


Self Esteem

by snxkesss



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, OC, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 17:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17430710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snxkesss/pseuds/snxkesss
Summary: Kane, a North Korean defector, has worked so hard to rank up to a general in the seven years he’s been in the UK, now that he has gotten to that point he must prove that he is worthy of leading the army he and his general built together and he must betray his best friend to do so.





	Self Esteem

**Author's Note:**

> 25/9/19 - WORK UNDER CONSTRUCTION
> 
>  **[!TRIGGER WARNING!: Homophobic language, strong language, physical abuse (mildly detailed), death]**  
>  I do not condone the acts of North Korea, nor do I think having an NK OC is necessarily a good thing.  
> I also do not condone homophobia, transphobia, racism or abuse on any level.  
> (Title is a reference to ‘Self Esteem’ by AJJ)

The troubled man led his highest-ranking men out of the walls of his grand army headquarters, leading them through the dark and murky forest they had hidden in.

The group eventually approached the town they had been travelling towards.

It looked deserted, like nobody was living there. 

“Looks like they already heard we were going to be invading...!”

One soldier spoke up, chuckling lightly afterward.

Kane huffed softly.

“They’re still around, they’re just hiding, I know it, I can _feel_ it…”

He looked around and reached for his gun that was being held in a holster on his belt.

The group heard a scream, the soldiers swinging their guns around from their backs and Kane pulling his small gun from its holster, all aiming in front of themselves.

After around a minute, a man in a dirty white shirt and dirty dark blue shorts ran outside from behind a building.

The group aimed at the insane looking man, Kane instantly realising the man by the unnaturally coloured purple eyes.

“Elias…”

He murmured, snarling slightly.

The man, Elias, immediately looked like he was paying attention.

“Kane…?”

He smiled widely.

“It’s been so long-!”

He was immediately cut off by the angered tone of Kane’s voice.

“Stop acting like we were close! You’re just making yourself look stupid…”

That one sentence made Elias' smile disappear.

"Or what? Are you going to kill me? Or are you just going to leave me to starve to death out here instead, making you look like a weak 'leader',"

He snickered.

"I mean, it's not like nobody knows that already, right?"

He raised a brow.

Kane growled lowly and pounced at the weaker man, pinning him to the dirt ground.

"DON'T _EVER_ UNDERESTIMATE ME, YOU LITTLE-!”

He held the gun against Elias' forehead, grunting as he saw the man beneath him curl up in terror.

"OKAY! OKAY! FOR GODSAKE!"

Elias glared up at Kane, seeing the gun move away from his face, quickly shuffling away as Kane stood and backed up.

The general was torn between the decision of whether to let him be or take him back to his base and publicly execute him there.

He quickly made up his mind.

"Three of you, grab him and restrain him...Do NOT hurt him, I want to fully degrade and torture him myself...”

Elias panicked, whimpering quietly as three of Kane's soldiers quickly surrounded him and forcefully hauled him up off the ground, pulling his arms behind his back and cuffing them together with handcuffs.

Feeling little to no need to try and struggle his way out, he let everything happen, keeping his head down the entire time though.

He was pushed forward, towards Kane, who caught him with a tight grip on his shoulder.

"Burn the place, I don't care who lives here, he deserves to see what happens to people who decide to challenge me..."

The powerful man kept an emotionless face and brave posture, feeling remorse even though he felt that he shouldn't, because he wasn't too badly trained, surprisingly.

Elias screamed, making Kane wrap his arms around the—now struggling—man's chest.

"NO! DO ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ME! DON'T DO ANYTHING TO HERE! PLEASE! PLEASE! IT'S THE LAST PLACE WE HAVE!"

Elias shouted, crying heavily, his voice now sounding very weak and croaky.

Kane tutted.

"You don't understand, do you? People who beg are only begging for worse...And _you will_ be getting _much_ worse when we get back..."

He sighed a bit and looked back up at his men.

"Burn the place, what are you waiting for?!"

He held Elias' head up by his hair, in a tight grip. Elias shook his head, crying a lot more.

“NO! NO! EVERYBODY-! RU-!"

Kane covered Elias' mouth. Kane made the still screaming man watch his friend's, his family's, and his own homes be destroyed and burned down by flamethrowers—an extra design element in the guns Kane thought could become useful at some point, which they had just proven to be.

Elias had eventually given up on watching, his eyes firmly shut, he had given up on thinking about everyone he loved, he had given up on listening to the deafening screeches coming from the buildings.

————————

Kane had led the group back to the base and had locked Elias away once the rest of the group had went to their next assigned task. He made a mental note of the cell block and which cell he had locked Elias in before making his way to the office of the current top General. He knocked on the door of the Head General's office, hearing a very deep and loud voice “State your name.” He cleared his throat afterwards. Kane sighed lightly "Kane Harmon, Sir, your 'top' General." He rolled his eyes a bit. "Enter." The Head replied, letting out a slight groan. Kane took a breath and opened the door, going inside, trying to look brave and proud "You had called to talk to me about something earlier, Sir...?" He closed the door and walked to the desk of his General, sitting down and reading his nameplate as he usually did 'Abraham Lawson'. "Yes, Kane, I have been trying to hold it off for quite a while..." Kane’s head shot up as Abraham stood and slowly paced around the desk once while continuing "As you know, I am sixty-three years old, which is around the perfect age to retire..." He stopped speaking once he had gotten back to his seat, slowly sitting down. "You don't mean...?" Kane looked down "But...I'm not ready to take your place...! I can _barely_ control a group of new recruits!" He sighed and shook his head slightly. Abraham tilted Kane's head up by his chin, looking him in the eyes "That's because they think you're _only_ a General..." He smiled lightly "Prove to me _and_ them that you're the new Head and that you deserve that title...". Kane smiled a bit, but it quickly faded "How am I supposed to prove it?". "Why not publicly execute someone you hate?" Abraham raised a brow "I'm sure those 'kids' you used to hang around with would be a good start...". Kane hummed "I mean, I did lock up Elias today, and I hate him a bit...". Abraham smirked "Use him then, he used to bully you until I found you on the streets on my trip to South Korea, right?". Kane almost instantly regretted bringing Elias up "B- but-!" He sighed, he didn't want to kill his old rival, he actually wanted to make up with him and let him go "Okay, Sir..." But he couldn't say no, this was his chance to prove that he was worthy of leading, if he couldn't, he'd be replaced. Abraham smiled a lot more as Kane stood "I'm glad I can put my trust in you, Kane...".

Elias had woken up in a completely different environment, he was in a dark, cold room, no windows, nothing. He started to panic "Wh- where am I?...! What happened to Kane?...! Where is my village?!" He tried to stand, finding that he had been chained to the ground by his wrists and ankles. He began to sweat, the room starting to feel unbearable to be in, his claustrophobia getting to him "H- hello?! HELLO!? IS...! IS ANYBODY THERE?!" He slowly began to hyperventilate. He heard a door open, not seeing any light though "It seems we should have taped your mouth shut..." Kane's shallow voice ringing through his ears. Elias whined loudly "Kane! Wh- where am I-?! Why am I-?!" He was quickly cut off " _Enough_." Kane growled out sternly "I'll kill you sooner if you keep talking..." That made Elias quiet, allowing Kane to continue "You're here so I am able to rank up, so I can prove myself worthy to protect and lead this hell, so I am promoted to 'General of the Army', instead of being stuck at just 'General'…" He had been pacing back and forth while speaking. "You think that...Killing me will prove that you're strong enough to take over...? Elias had teared up "But, don't you remember when we were friends? Before everything went downhill and Óva’ and Neo’ had that big argument and...You blew up our house because Óva’ seemed too weak to do it himself...So you killed him when you thought none of us were watching...?!" Elias growled quietly, becoming extremely enraged "AND-! AND YOU HADN'T REALISED I WAS WATCHING EVERYTHING-! AND I TOLD EVERYONE WHAT YOU HAD DONE TO HIM-! AND THEY HATED YOU AND THEY THREW YOU OUT! God, that was the _BEST_ thing that had happened since _HIS_ 'betrayal'! That- that was really _YOURS_...!" Elias tried to calm himself down, feeling a gun being pressed against his forehead. "Well done...You've just brought your execution a day closer..." Kane smirked, knowing Elias couldn't see it, but feeling so proud of himself that he felt he should. Elias only cried harder, he couldn't believe what his once ‘best friend’ had become "W- why...?". Kane raised a brow, his smirk fading to an annoyed expression "What do you mean ' _Why_ '?" He snickered a bit. "Why are y- you doing this...?” Elias sniffled, trying to calm himself. Kane gulped and started to sweat "We were never friends, I never considered you a friend..." He turned away from him, shaking slightly. "We were, Kane! Don't you remember when we built the treehouse when we were little? We used to pretend it was the watch-tower of a pirate ship...! We used to have so much fun! I remember when you used to tell us you were a defector from North Korea...!" Elias chuckled. Kane growled "That's because I _am_ a defector! I escaped with my mother when I was three and she thought I could be so much! She thought that if I could get good grades, I could stop Kim Jong-Il and his army!" He teared up and sniffled "Until she was captured during our journey across Laos and taken back to North Korea and I was taken by a local living in Laos who was kind enough to save me from the guards! And then she sent me over to South Korea and put into an orphanage where I wouldn't find another family until I was seven!" He couldn't stop crying, talking about his younger life upset him so much, he hated speaking about his mother or his birth country "My mother was the last person close to me who I knew truly believed in me! But now that I know she's dead, I know nobody believes in me!". Elias just listened, he couldn't say anything, there was nothing he could say. "I formed this army with Abraham to get back at North Korea and the Kim regime...They are a disgusting family that deserve to be eliminated..." Kane wiped his eyes and calmed himself, turning back to Elias "I will be using _you_ to demonstrate how far I've come and I will use you to prove how worthy I am of leading, and I will prove to my superior that I deserve to take his place..." He sighed and waited, seeing if Elias would say anything. Elias stayed quiet for a few seconds, speaking up afterwards "So... All those years... You were telling the truth...? About you being North Korean...". Kane scoffed "I thought you all believed me when I told you... But _no_..." Kane sniffled a bit. There was another bout of silence in the room until Elias spoke up “…You know… You say all of that and you sound as if you were Jong-Il himse-!” He was quickly cut off by Kane holding a knife to his throat. He began to laugh softly, quickly stopping and pulling the cloth ‘his’ men used to blindfold Elias off. It took Elias a minute to adjust to the semi-bright room, looking up at Kane as his eyes adjusted. “Go on…Finish it off…”. Elias teared up and went silent again, looking down and sniffling. Kane stared at him, his mind telling him he should feel sorry for Elias, that he should be sorry for doing everything he’d been trained to do. He ended up tearing up “E- Eli-as…” He felt his voice break, covering his mouth. Elias looked up at him and huffed slightly “Am I- I supposed to feel sympathy f- for you or something…?”. Kane furrowed his brows “I’d expect _you_ of _all_ people to have _some_ sympathy!”. Elias scoffed “Not for _y- your_ sorry ass…”. Kane got up and growled “Shut it.” He kicked Elias in the stomach, watching him hunch over and whimper loudly. Kane jumped as he heard slow and steady clapping from behind him, a voice following “ _Finally_!”. He turned around to see Abraham, quickly fixing his posture, wiping his face and clearing his throat “S- Sir, I- I never heard you come in…!” He was terrified now. Abraham opened the cell door and stared down at the almost completely still Elias “This is that boy you were talking about, is it not?”. Kane nodded a bit “Y- yes, Sir, his name is Elias…”. Abraham smirked and huffed “So pathetic and weak,” He turned to Kane “Why haven’t you beaten him yet? I’ve heard that you wanted to personally torture him…” He raised a brow. Kane stumbled over his words, looking at Elias, then at Abraham “I- I just…” He backed up a bit “I just wanted to talk to him before I did anything to him, that’s all…” It was only seconds before he was picked up by his shirt collar and pushed against the wall “You know, I may be old, but I’ll give you a proper _fucking_ punishment if you don’t do your job…” He was let go of, quickly nodding and making his way over to the restrained man, that was before he was pulled back by his superior “ _No_ , you stand here and _watch_ , I’m going to give you a lesson on how to torture a ‘friend’ or close relative…”. Kane stood back and watched as Elias tried to back off, being pulled forward by Abraham “You just stay still now, you little brat…”. Kane looked down, feeling like he’d never get the place he was promised. Abraham pulled out a small pocket knife, watching Elias struggle even more as he saw the blade flick up from the handle. The old general groaned “Kane! Get over here and hold his legs down!”. Kane quickly made his way over, mumbling “Yes, Sir.” He sat on Elias’ legs and held his ankles. Abraham kneeled down and started to cut at the soles of Elias’ feet, hearing him scream loudly. Kane had closed his eyes and teared up, hating having to listen to his once best friend get hurt “…S- stop…”. Abraham looked up at Kane “‘Stop’? Why should I, because you love him or something?” He chuckled darkly. Kane sniffled and wiped his eyes quickly “Y-es…”. Abraham stopped and stared at him “Really? My _top general_ is a _faggot_?”. Kane could feel Elias’ eyes burning into his back “Yes, Sir…”. Abraham stood, pulling Kane up by his hair “I shouldn’t be letting you help out hurting your ‘lover’, I should be showing you what happens to fuckers like you…” He threw Kane to the floor, landing with a grunt. Kane whimpered quietly and sat up “D- d- don’t! Please! Don’t hurt him more! Just _kill_ me!” He held the back of his head, hissing gently. He moved his hand away from his head, seeing his fingers covered with blood. He pushed himself up, off the floor, only to be pushed against the wall by Abraham “ _Tomorrow_ … You’ll kill him tomorrow instead, and if you _don’t_? It’ll be _you_ …” Abraham huffed and left. Kane fell back down to his knees, covering his face. Elias stared at Kane “…I- I…” He sighed and looked away “I’m sorry…”. Kane sobbed into his hands, ignoring everything that was around him. Elias could feel Kane’s pain, the pain of being _used_ , the pain of being constantly _hurt_ by the people that are the closest. Kane got up slowly “…You’re not ‘ _sorry_ ’… You’ve got _no idea_ what they do to me…” He wiped his hand on his trousers, staring at Elias. He stumbled back a bit, backing himself into the door, turning and leaving after a few minutes.

The badly injured General made it back to his room, stumbling back as he opened the door. He quickly entered and closed the door, tripping over himself and falling onto his bed “Shit…” His head was pounding, he wasn’t sure whether it was just another migraine or because of how hard he hit his head. He sighed shakily and felt the cut again, hissing and swiftly moving his hand away, seeing even more blood cover his hand. He closed his eyes and shook his head gently “It’ll be fine…” He opened his eyes again, seeing Abraham. He almost screamed, hitting his head on the wall and groaning “Goddamnit, Kane, what’s wrong with you…” He spoke to himself as he looked back at the spot he thought he saw Abraham. Nothing, he wasn’t there. “Stop hallucinating,” Kane shakily got up “Why would he be in here anyway? Of all people…” He slowly made his way over to his bathroom, locking the door behind himself. He cleaned the cut, afterwards washing his hands and bandaging the wound. He looked at himself in the mirror, seeing Abraham again. He freaked right out and turned around, pressing himself right up against the sink. Nobody was there. He slapped himself gently “Stop it!” He growled at himself. He unlocked the door and went back through to his room, sitting on his bed. He laid down “Maybe I just need some rest…” He quickly fell asleep.

_**[The next day]** _

The chants of thousands of men swarmed his ears like wasps, he slowly turned a pitiful smile into a wide smirk, looking back at the man he had captured a day prior. Kane turned back to his nine-hundred-thousand-man army and cleared his throat, letting out a grunt afterwards “My men! It has been an honour leading you as a general!” The men cheered before he continued, chuckling at their excitement “But now, it is time for me to rank up to more than just your general, but to rank up to the general of this entire army!” The crowd cheered again, stomping their feet, waiting for the main event. “And now, without further ado,” Kane started, walking back to Elias with a slight stumble, who was tied up against his will. He pulled him out onto the balcony, forcing him onto the cutup soles of his feet “This _devilish_ man will pay for all the _irritation_ he has caused me for seventeen years!” The crowd chanted ‘Vengeance’ louder and louder each time. Kane pulled a gun from a holster on his hip, pressing it against Elias’ temple. Elias quickly broke down in fear, crying and squirming, desperately trying to escape Kane’s grasp “PLEASE! PLEASE, I’LL WORK MY DEBT OUT SOME OTHER WAY, PLEASE, JUST DON’T KILL ME! DON’T YOU LOVE ME?!” He whimpered loudly. Kane stared at the shaking, scared man “No, not anymore…” He chuckled lowly, keeping his cool “You’ve tormented me enough, I’m afraid this is your end, dear friend…” _**BANG**_. Kane dropped the now lifeless body of his ‘friend’, Elias’ face now blank and covered with blood “I am glad I have such loyal men...” He made his way back inside and slammed the door shut. He had held his emotions back for too long, quickly bursting into tears “I’M SO SORRY! IT HAD TO HAPPEN! I HAD TO DO IT! I WOULD’VE LOOKED WEAK IF I HADN’T!” He covered his face and fell onto his knees. He quickly calmed himself down enough to sound like he was fine, he knew he couldn’t be seen in such a state or he’d be overthrown or replaced. _**Knock, knock**_. Kane heard the sound of a fist knocking on his secure, metal door. He panicked, still not completely calmed. He stared at the door "Yes? Who is it?" He waited for a reply. "We have come to take the body away, Sir." He calmed as he heard the low, deep tone of his now top General, the person who brought him and Abraham together. “O- oh, yes, come in, Basil…” He shakily made his way over to his bed, sitting down so he was facing away when the soldiers entered. The three men completely ignored Kane, grabbing the body and making their way back out. He heard another knock at his door minutes after the men had left “Come in…” He saw the door slowly creak open, seeing an eyeless Elias standing there, the gunshot wound dripping with blood. Kane screamed and closed his eyes, covering his ears “NO! YOU’RE DEAD! WHY ARE YOU HERE!?” He looked up at him, except it wasn’t Elias, it was Abraham “PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! DO YOU THINK YOU’LL BE ABLE TO SCREAM LIKE A CHILD EVERYDAY!?”. Kane shuddered and pointed at him “B- b- but… He was…” He fainted.


End file.
